Means for setting mosaics.



F. ALUAN'.

MEANS FOR SETTING MOSAIOS. APPLICATION FILED $51 12, 1913.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE. mm smart, or ZANESVILLE, OHIO, assrenon To amen-roan nncausric TILING comm, urn, on new YORK, N. Y., A conronenon on NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR SETTING MOSAICS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Pate ted Mar.30, 1915.

Application filed September 2, 1913. Serial 787,578.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it .known that I, Fr'mix ALGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Zanesville, county of Muskingum and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and use ful Means for Setting Mosaics, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a'means for setting mo-. saics whereby a workman may accurately position the different successive parts of a mosaic pattern or design into a cement bed in such manner that the part or parts last installed will register accurately with the parts or part previously installed, asa result of which all the parts are in accurate register and considerable time and labor are saved, 'for the reason that the workman is not required to remove any part of the mosaic which may be inaccurately positioned.

In this art it is customary to prepare the sections or parts of a floor mosaic at a tile factory for rapidity and economy of operation. Such' preparation involves, usually, the employment of a wire bottom frame, in the openings of which the tesserae or pieces of ceramic are placed by hand, either to pro-- duce a-plain mosaic or in accordance with a design or pattern. After the pieces shall have been assembled, it is essential that they shall .be united, so as to preserve them in their assembled order, and this-is accomplished by various expedients," the most usual of which is to apply a backing sheet,

usually of fibrous material, the same being cemented to the .backs of the tile pieces, thereby retaining-the tesseree in their proper order and in spacedrelation to each other at their edges This backing sheet is usually paper, of a more or less opaque nature. Now, when the tile la er comes to lay the mosaic section in a be of cementitious material, it is turned over so that the backing sheet'is uppermost, and this sheet, by reason of the opaque nature of the material, conceals the tesserae from the view-of the workman, as a result of which operation the design or pattern can not be seen and it happens very frequently that the section or part --just laid in the cement bed fails to register with the parts or 'sections previously installed, so that the workman is required. to

remove some or all of the mosaic, thus involving time, labor and expense.

The ob'ect of this invention 1s to overcome the oregoing and other disadvantages,

and to provide a simple and efiicient means whereby a section or part of a mosaic may be laid in accurate register with sections or parts previously installed. 7

Theinvention consists of a mosaic section comprising a backing sheet to one face of which are attached the tesseree forming the design or pattern, thesalient feature of the invention being the provision on the other face of the backing sheet a pictorial repre-' sentation of the design or pattern,.all parts of which are in register with the tesseree and which representation is in the full view of the workman while engaged in the operation of laying the mosaic in the cement bed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of several sheets of fibrous material, each of which is provided on one face thereof'with a representation of a section of mosaic work. Flg. 2 is a section through a backing sheet with the tesserm attached to the under surface of the sheet. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the sections of mosaicor the tesserae as the appear when about to be laid.

Each section consists'of a backing sheet A provided on one surface thereof with a pictorial representation B of the pattern or 'secshown are in accurate register with all parts of the pictorial representation B on the other face of the sheet. Asshown, a plurality of backing sheets 1 to 9, inclusive, are used, on one face of which, a. e. v the upper side shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, is executed a representation of the section of tiling which is to be laid. The backing sheets are designed to be fitted together in proper order to produce the complete designin mosaic shown in Fig. 3. The tesserae forming the mosaic are attached tothe other face of the backing sheets, said tess'erae of the design being opposite to and in accurate'register with all parts of the design B appearing on the other surface of the sheet. As is usual, the pieces of. ceramic are attached by gluing or cementing them to the sheet. The tesseree G are composed of tile", stone, etc., and they are in different colors to secure the desired'appearance or effect. Each section of tiling consists of a desired number of pieces attached in the required order to the backing sheet andin register with the picture B thereon. The tile sections on the sheets 1 to 9, both inclusive, are indicated at a, b, o, d, e, f, g, k, 71, respectively, said sections forming when assembled the complete design shown.

.The utility of my invention is now apparent. The nine sections of mosaic are Installed successively by the workman by turning the sections with the tiles face downward into the cement bed, the backing sheets being uppermost. The workman will, of course, have a drawing of the design to' guide him in laying the mosaic sections, and as each section is installed the picture B on the face of the backing sheet will be in full view of the workman. Accordingly, the workman will have before him thappearance of the tiling section as he lays it, and thus it will be impossible, with the exercise of ordinary care, for the sections to be laid in wrong positions. After laying the required number of sections to produce the pattern or design in the cement bed, the backing sheets are moistened in order to soften the cement, and said sheets are stripped ofl' the installed pieces of ceramic,

or tesserae, leaving the latter firmly em bedded in the cement.

I believe myself to be the first in this art. to conceive the idea, and rovide means for carrying the same into e ect, of producing I on one face of a backing sheet the pictorial representation of a pattern or design, to the other face of which sheet there are attached the tesserae forming the mosaic in such manner that all parts of the tile design will be in register with all parts of the picture, so as to enable the workman to see at all times just what the nature of the work is and to assemble the several pieces of mosaic so that all the pieces will be accurately positioned and in register, thereby avoiding the possiprovided on one surface thereof with a pictorial tern, an tesserae attached by cement to the opposite surface of the flexible sheet, said tesserae on one surface of the sheet being in register-with the pictorial representation on the opposite surface of the sheet, whereby said sheet may be positioned upon a cementitious material to which the mosaic is to 'beapplied with the pictorial -representation representation of the design or pat-' in full view of the workman so that the tesserae, concealed from view by the sheet,

may be embedded in said material in accurate register with other mosaic sections of the design or pattern.

2. Means for setting mosaics embodying a plurality of flexible sheets adapted to be assembled in register with; each other over a bed of ementitiousmaterial', each sheet being provided on one surface thereof with a pictorial representation of one part of the design or pattern, and said sheet being provided on the other surface thereof with tesserae cemented to said sheet, all the tesserae composing the mosaic being in'register with the pictorial representation, whereby the sheets may be assembled to embed the tesserae in the cementitious material so that the partial design formed by the tesserae on one sheet will register accuratelyrwith other 'parts of the design formed by the tesserae of the other sheets. I

'3. Means for setting mosaic, designs in cementitious beds of materialembodying a flexible backing sheet composed of opaque material, said sheet being provided'on one face thereof with a pictorial representation of the design or pattern, and tesserae cemented tothe other face of the backingsheet so as to produce in mosaic a corresponding design .or pattern, all parts of which mosaic design are in register with the corresponding parts of the pictorial representation. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FELIX ALCAN.

Witnesses:

H. Hummnmen, Cannon: F. Lmin. 

